An international survey has revealed little confidence in Donald Trump's ability to manage foreign policy should he become US president.

In seven of 15 countries outside of the US polled by the Pew Research Centre, Mr Trump's ratings are in the single digits. Large majorities in 11 of the countries have little or no confidence in the prospective Republican presidential nominee's ability to manage international affairs.

That includes 92% of Swedes, 89% of Germans and 82% of Japanese..

He polls best in China, where there is a split between 40% who have no confidence in Mr Trump and 39% who do not offer an opinion.

Mr Trump, who has advocated trade protectionism and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States, records his highest ratings in Europe among supporters of political parties that are anti-immigration or oppose European integration. But even among those poll respondents, his confidence ratings remain below one-third.

The survey, which examines international attitudes toward the US, gauged opinions from 20,132 people in Canada, the US, 10 nations in Europe and four in the Asia-Pacific between April 4 and May 29.

Hillary Clinton fares much better. A median of 59% in Europe have confidence in the Democratic contender - compared with just 9% for Mr Trump. She also gets positive marks in Canada, Australia and Japan, although views are mixed in China, where 37% say they have confidence in Mrs Clinton and 35% say they do not.

Pew said that in many of the countries where polling trends were available, views on the former US secretary of state have improved significantly since 2008 when she was running for the Democratic nomination against Barack Obama. She shows double-digit increases in Japan, Britain, Germany and China.

But her ratings today are still lower than Mr Obama's. In all countries surveyed other than Greece, half or more of those polled expressed confidence in the US president. That includes more than 80% in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Australia.

The survey found that the standing of the United States as the world's leading economic power has recovered since the 2008 global financial crisis. As China's once-astronomical growth rates have slowed, the percentage of Europeans naming China as the leading economic power have declined.